Research Project of the Year 2011

This year, the much coveted ‘Research Project of the Year’ prize went to The Ness of Brodgar, and was accepted on behalf of the team by Nick Card, Senior Projects Manager at the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology.

Congratulations to all involved in the project. We eagerly await the next chapter of this captivating archaeological story as it unfolds before us!

The excavation of an artificial mound, five times the size of a football pitch, has revealed monumental stone structures and massive pits of prehistoric rubbish. As more and more of the structures are uncovered, stunning discoveries are causing a radical rethink or prehistoric religion in Orkney.

Over the last year, the research projects going on all across the country shot to the forefront of archaeology’s most fascinating stories. There is surely more to come as we follow these fascinating advances in theory, technology, and practice. The following projects captured the imagination of readers and editors alike:

Dark Satanic Mills: The archaeology of the world’s first industrial city – CA 242

By 1850, Manchester had a population of 300,000 and was synonymous with both explosive economic growth, as well as the squalid worker’s conditions that came with it. A decade of archaeology charts the growth of this great city.

.

Raiders and Traders – CA 245

Recent research and discoveries is causing a re-think of the Vikings and their place in our history. Were they really just heathen raiders, bent on destruction and plunder, or were they perhaps a more cultured people, with a previously unrecognised level of skill in areas such as metalworking, navigation, and storytelling?

.

Liquid History: Excavating London’s great river – CA 244

The Thames has played a central role in the life of London for over 2,000 years. Now, prehistoric forests, skeletons, Tudor palaces, AngloSaxon fishtraps and more have emerged from the mud and gravel of the Thames foreshore, thanks to the Thames Discovery Programme, an exciting new project to record the archaeology of London’s great river..

Digging up Plugstreet: The archaeology of WWI – CA 247

Modern conflict archaeology is growing swiftly in popularity, due to projects like Plugstreet, which traced the fortunes of the Australian 3rd Division from their training grounds on Salisbury Plain, to battle in the trenches of the Western Front in Belgium.